CHEF sean Sherman, The sioux chef

Chef Sean Sherman is the founder of the company The Sioux Chef.An Oglala Lakota, born in Pine Ridge, SD, Sherman has dedicated his career to renewing awareness of indigenous food systems in a modern culinary context. His book, "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen," won a 2018 James Beard Foundation American Cookbook Award.

Sean has extensively studied the foundations of indigenous food systems, including Native American farming techniques, wild food usage and harvesting, land stewardship, hunting and fishing, food preservation, Native American migrational histories, elemental cooking techniques, and Native culture and history to gain a full understanding of how to bring back a sense of Native American cuisine to today’s world.

A culture without food is a lost culture. I think it’s extremely important to bring back some of this knowledge, this food, and to be able to serve it in a modern context that everyone can appreciate. These flavors speak of the land.

Sherman’s knowledge of wild food usage and harvesting, elemental cooking techniques, and Upper Midwestern food systems make him uniquely suited to teaching about food fireside, and his classes promise to peel back the layers of history in search of flavors with a story to tell.

CHEF Nettie Colón, red hen gastrolab

Nettie is our official 2018 Camp Cook, preparing our communal meals. Don't expect to find her inside the kitchen, though. She will be digging fire pits and sharing underground cooking techniques while mixing a variety of Latin American flavors.

Cooking outside allows us to gather our community around the campfire. You may think that you are in charge, but actually it is nature and the fire that tell you what your role is. The meal you end up with is never the same twice...and I love that.

Born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico, Nettie Colón spent her formative years learning traditional cooking methods of the island with her grandmother and her friends. Nettie was Chef de Cuisine for over a decade at Luciaʼs Restaurant & Wine Bar in Uptown, Minneapolis. For seven years Nettie taught Mayan cuisine classes in the Biosphere Reserve of Sian Ka'an in Tulum, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. She currently runs creative pop-up events through her company Red Hen Gastrolab.

CHEF Karl Gerstenberger, WAldmann Wurstery

Karl Gerstenberger knows a thing or two about sausage (and history). He is currently head chef and wurstmacher at St. Paul’s historic Waldmann Brewery and Wurstery. As with all of our chefs, we selected Chef Karl for camp because he brings a unique perspective to cooking. The Waldmann Brewery—and his menus—are bringing to life a forgotten era of food in Saint Paul. His kitchen serves up authentic currywurst and bratwurst, as well as a German-inspired take on slow food.

When you’re in a minimal environment, it’s just a beautiful thing to have a meal.

Karl has worked at some of the best-known restaurants in California such as Chez Panisse, Stars, and Oliveto. Back in Minnesota, he helped establish the Seward Co-op’s meat program.

At Camp, look for Chef Karl to bring together classic cuisine, camp cooking, and whole-animal butchery. And if we're lucky, maybe he'll reveal the secret of how to make the best wurst.

chef lachelle cunningham, chelles' kitchen

Lachelle Cunningham has received many accolades, most recently winning the Charlie Award for Community Hero. She is known for her work with Breaking Bread Cafe, a program of Appetite for Change, a non-profit food justice organization. Currently, Chef Lachelle is working on the relaunch of her food business brand, Chelles’ Kitchen, a food service production and consulting company serving globally inspired comfort and healing foods. Being involved in a variety of food and health-related projects that she affectionately calls “adventures in chef-ing and environmental justice”, Chef Lachelle enjoys teaching, mentoring, consulting, participating in think-tanks and strategic coalitions, as well as simply playing in the kitchen.

My mission is to normalize healthy eating and reclaim the narrative around soul food through the exploration, innovation, and economic development of soulful American cuisine.

Chef Lachelle served as the founding President of the Onyx Culinary Collective and is dedicated to serving the community. She also volunteers in various programs involving youth like Community Cooks at Appetite for Change, the Minneapolis Public Schools True Food Chef Council, Junior Iron Chef competitions, Roots for the Home Team youth program, and the Super Bowl Super Snack Challenge. Through teaching a series of cooking classes called Healthy Roots, her mission is to normalize healthy eating and reclaim the narrative around soul food through the exploration, innovation, and economic development of soulful American cuisine.

KATHY YERICH, FORAGER

Kathy is a serious mushroom enthusiast. Co-author of the popular local field guide Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest (Adventure Publications, 2014), Kathy Yerich has been hanging out with the Minnesota Mycological Society (MMS) for more than 10 years. Current MMS and NAMA (North American Mycological Association) Vice President, her mission in those organizations is to make learning about mushrooms fun and accessible to everyone. Though she prefers to give her foraged finds to the likes of Thomas Boemer at Corner Table, she was a large scale cook and baker for many years and loves to experiment with new foods.

Even more than farm to table, foraging is the ultimate connection to our location and season. It teaches us to keep our eyes open, observe our surroundings and the seasonal growth.

JIM BOVINO, topos ferments

Meet the Master of Microbes. Jim Bovino has been a theater director, urban farmer, agricultural activist and cider-maker. But now, as owner/operator of Topos Ferments, he gets to play with veggies all day. Bovino's mission is preserving the local harvest using traditional methods of lacto-fermentation, and lately has been incorporating Japanese ingredients and methods into his ferments.

Preserving the local harvest with traditional lacto-fermentation techniques.

CHEF LEAH KORGER, WEdge + Linden Hills Co-op

Leah Korger is an up-and-coming Twin Cities chef and proprietor of Blue Collar Supper Club. BCSC’s mission is to curate one-of-a-kind dining experiences that build community through storytelling and good old-fashioned Midwestern hospitality.

Chef Leah cooks to bring memories of their working-class Wisconsin roots to life through re-imagined ingredients and flavors, leading to memorable creations such as scratch-made "Cool Ranch Doritos" and gluten-free fried chicken.

Building community through storytelling and good old-fashioned Midwestern hospitality.

Leah has a background in sustainable food systems. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, they served in the FoodCorps, creating experiential food education programming for schools and working on small organic farms on the East Coast. Sustainable agriculture practices and ingredients continue to infuse their cooking today. Leah currently manages the dynamic central kitchen for the Wedge and Linden Hills Coops, continuing to connect communities to local, sustainable, and delicious food.

NICK KOSEVICH, bittercube bitters

Nick Kosevich founded Bittercube Bitters with Ira Koplowitz in 2009. After successful stints at Town Talk Diner (Nick) in Minneapolis and The Violet Hour (Ira) in Chicago, they began developing, formulating, and tweaking the lineup that is now the six varieties of Bittercube Bitters—the business has since grown to global distribution. Beyond bitters, Bittercube consults with a number of restaurants and bars, creating unique cocktail programs throughout the country including Cafe Alma, Lawless Distilling Company, Can Can Wonderland, Lynhall and Great Northern Smokehouse here in the Twin Cities. Bittercube has a team of dedicated cocktail craftsmen and lend its spirited prowess to trade shows, cocktail classes, events, weddings and cocktail dinners.

Past class topics include Firewalk with Me, The Art of Shaking, and The Art of Stirring.

chef janene Holig, Hot Indian

Janene Holig is the founding chef of Hot Indian. What started as a food truck has grown into a popular and expanding fast casual. The menu boasts “Indian food, Simplified” and that is what it delivers. Holig’s knowledge of global cuisine stems from traveling and cooking around the world as well as a culinary degree. Her goal is to learn, teach, and inspire Indian cooking. A central MN upbringing keeps Janene invested in local seasonal ingredients with added Indian flare and flavor. Her dishes have received notoriety around the metro and beyond including 2013 Charlie Award for “Best Food Truck”; 2014 “Iron Fork” champion duo; 2015 “Best Food Truck” City Pages; 2015 Top Chef by Foodservice News; 2018 Featured “Chopped” Chef.

A simple goal: to learn, teach, and inspire Indian cooking.

BAKER ANNE ANDRUS, HONEY & RYE BAKEHOUSE

Anne Andrus is the owner of Honey & Rye Bakehouse in St. Louis Park, MN. She grew up baking monkey bread at home with her mother in a rural Minnesota kitchen. Now a business owner and a mom, her passion for baking, family, and community continues to inspire her journey.

Following graduation from St. Catherine University with degrees in Spanish and International Business and Economics, she began working for a non-profit international trade organization. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to the world of baking. After spending three years learning the ropes at a cupcake shop in Oakland, CA, she completed the professional baking program at the San Francisco Baking Institute. She returned to MN where her love of community and butter inspired her to open her own retail bakery in 2013.

Her passion for baking, family, and community continues to inspire her journey.